On the West coast, I like to look for birds and then troll by the fish. I troll 2 skirted ballyhoo on the long riggers, 2 magnum rapala's on the short riggers, and a home-made cedar plug spreader bar on the center rigger. When the fish just dont "want to bite" a few people use these tall poles that they attach to their boat called Greensticks. The Japanese brought this technique to Hawaii in the early 80's. If you go to this website, it may help you a little better with the Greenstick.
Greensticks, green stick fishing, green sticks, greenstick fishing gear and tackle from alltackle.com